WHOSE kernel?

[Chip Witt]

Romeyn,

Kernel configuration and compilation isn't as much a "black art" as 
everyone makes it out to be. With a little patience, careful planning, 
and knowledge of one's hardware, it can be a fun and educational 
experience. Within the kernel source there is README and INSTALL 
documentation, that if read several times, provides detailed insight 
into how to go about getting a configured kernel to boot. This makes 
getting a bootable kernel much easier than it was in yesteryear, when 
the documentation was terse and largely unintelligible to the novice 
geek. Configuration is the harder part, as you need to have some 
understanding of your hardware and the kernel configurations and modules 
required to make your equipment funtion properly. This requires a bit of 
experimentation under normal circumstances, but so long as you take care 
to keep a working kernel available from your boot menu (via your 
configuration of yaboot.conf), this isn't as dangerous as it sounds.

If you want to benefit from the latest kernels, but don't want to roll 
your own, an excellent site (for PPC) is ppckernel.org. Ben H.'s kernel 
is there, among others, in a pre-compiled, downloadable format. The 
"drop-in" installation instructions are available at this site as well. 
This also gives you the ability to download the kernel source and see 
the .config file used to build their working kernels. Very helpful if 
you're just getting started.

On what's special about BenH's kernel: Ben seems to take pride in 
staying on the fringe with configs that work "better than stock" for 
newer Apple hardware. His contributions have consistently been welcomed 
into the mature kernel source tree over time, but getting your hands on 
his development kernels allows you access to some feature sets earlier 
than they would otherwise be available. Although I would not recommend 
contacting Ben directly for basic/novice config questions (for Ben's 
sake), Ben has always taken the time to respond via email to me when 
I've encountered problems that were either undocumented or unresolvable 
in relation to a particular portion of his kernel's config. I mention 
this only because it speaks well to Ben's character and his overall 
concern for the PPC community on the whole. If it's not obvious, I use 
benh kernels on my machine, and have been for the last six months or so 
without problem. I started with the prebuilts on the ppckernel.org 
website, and quickly made my jump to custom configs based on my needs 
and the requirements of the hardware on which I work.

Best of luck to you. Happy Hacking!

CW

>
>Will someone please enlighten me?
>
>I have often seen reference to <this kernel> or <that kernel>... Am I 
>right in assuming that these are kernels configured and compiled by 
>people for others not savvy enough to "roll their own?"  (That's not 
>meant as a slam on anyone...)
>
>Further, what's "special" about BenH's kernel?  Could I not make this 
>work myself by compiling my own?  Or is this something I should stay 
>away from on PPC and leave it to the "experts"?
>

-- 

Chip Witt
Sr. Network Administrator
Westwave Communications

463 Aviation Blvd.
Santa Rosa, CA  95403
(V) 707-284-7237
(F) 707-591-9413
(E) chip.witt@westwave.com

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        "Today, wealth is no longer best defined
        as ownership of land, goods, capital or
        labor. It is knowledge and knowing how to
        use it."

                              Peter Drucker, 1988
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